Arizona Vacation

Sorry it's been such a long time since I last updated our blog... Not too much stuff has gone on since we got back from Scotland. We did move to a new townhouse that we are renting in Broomfield, a few miles closer to Boulder but more importantly gets us out of apartments. Thank goodness! Ashley and I headed to visit our friends Chelsea and Ryan Pearce and their daughter Riley in Arizona last weekend and we had such a good time. Although it was very hot (high of 107 on Thursday!), we did make it out to my old college stomping grounds Arizona State University to walk around and see how much it has changed since I graduated in 2001. Thursday night we had a great dinner at their house. Friday night we picked up Ryan at his work and drove to downtown Phoenix to see the Arizona Diamondbacks play the San Francisco Giants. It was cool for me to go to the stadium again because I hadn't been inside since I stopped working for the Diamondbacks after their 2000 season. For those who don't know, I was their batboy from their inaugural season in 1998 through the 2000 season. It was such an awesome experience, and 11 years later, the stadium is still pretty cool. I was VERY glad to see that they opened the roof for the game, seeing as it's closed 90% of the season because it's so hot in Phoenix in the summertime. The Diamondbacks were trying to clinch the National League West while the Giants were holding on to slim hopes of even making the playoffs. We got some cheap seats up in the upper deck behind home plate, but the view was really nice. Matt Cain started for the Giants and pitched a great game. Aubrey Huff of the Giants taking a swing. The game went by REALLY fast! It was a low scoring game and the Diamondbacks ended up winning the game, 3-1. 2011 National League West Champs. I was happy for the team that I used to work for, but I'm a die-hard Giants fan, so I was bummed to see the all but eliminated from the playoffs. (They were eliminated officially the next day) Chelsea and Ryan Pearce after the game. Thanks again for letting us stay with you! One really cool thing I learned on this trip was that with Arizona being in the middle of the desert, people have to deal with scorpions around their houses. Chelsea and Ryan have their fare share of them in their backyard, so Ryan goes around the perimeter of their house almost every night with his blacklight flashlight, looking for them. The interesting thing is that when you shine the blacklight on the scorpion, they glow! Check it out! Each of those photos is of a different scorpion that we found in a search of his yard. Saturday morning we woke up and just basically hung out. I wanted to take a few photos of their awesome chocolate lab Red. Ashley and I have been talking about getting another dog sometime, and I think after meeting Red, we were convinced that we want to get a chocolate lab. We had a great trip back to AZ, and were so glad we could hang with Chelsea and Ryan for a few days. Next up, we head to Mexico in mid-October! Can't wait!